Saturday, August 06, 2016

Yeah I know I gotta start this blogpost off by sayin' somethin' other'n "Sheesh, what a boring week it was!", so I will. But man was it yet another dudster in a long line of 'em (so I didn't). Barring any personal fambly things that you could care less about the last seven were rather Quindlanesque in their sameness, and telling you about whatever did transpire would be akin to you telling me all about your latest GILLIGAN'S ISLAND sex fantasy that I thought we all got over once we hit the age of twelve!

So howz'bout some polly-tix hmmmmmmmm? Gotta say that the thought of a Hillary presidency is enough to make me want to move...NOT to Canuckistan like alla those chic Amerigan entertainers claim they wanna do if Donald Trump gets in, but to the former Soviet Union which at least has a leader who is really concerned about the locals more than he is about everybody else. Too bad I can't write in Putin this November, though doing so would certainly be a better "protest vote" that pulling the Gus Hall lever was for many a year (or so the Communists kept telling us). Naturally Hillary's uber-corrupt nature never did matter to her fans as if she really was sneakier'n the usual pol, but sheesh, the mere thought of her as leader of the kinda/sorta free world should be enough to send menopausal pharmaceutical stocks clear through the roof. And hey, it's not that I loathe the female sex (well, not that much), but it ain't like Hillary's got the same focused foresight nor the sense of duty that a real femme role model like Marine Le Pen most certainly does. Heck, at this point I'd even settle for Bernie Sanders in drag!

I gotta say that I like Trump if ONLY because he wrecked the Republican neocon establishment and got a whole buncha commentators on the right all apoplectic over his definitely meteoric rise, but do I think he's gonna build that wall? Do we really need to build it because hey, there are pole vaulters out there. Of course at this point in time just about anythingwould be better'n Hillary and her status quo crony capitalist/socialism, but then again that choice these days might even include Elmer Fudd that's how badski things have become! Still a whole lotta people that I kinda agree with think that Trump's the best thing to happen to politics in years and like, why should I think for myself?

The Greens? Didn't even know they still existed. The Libertarians??? What a buncha jokes. I'm getting tired of these guys who were once called Republicans who liked to smoke dope but are now Democrats who don't like paying taxes. Gary Johnson and William Weld (who I understand was part of the Boston Velvet Underground cadre which included Jonathan Richman, Wayne McGuire and Donna Summer!) are the biggest insults to a movement that once boasted the likes of Murray Rothbard, Justin Raimondo and Ron Paul, and they can all go swim in the septic tank of libertine ideas posing as deep political thought with the rest of those neo-hippies (no insult to hippies intended) who may be a-greyin' like you and me but still hold their Dead Kennedys albums close to their ever ragin' hearts.

So where does all of this leave me you might ask. Well, at this point (and I do see it as a point of no return), it's ALT RIGHT and nothin' but! Chew on that one for awhile, Sunshine!

***

It happened a few weeks back or so, but sayonara to JACK DAVIS, the last of the original MAD magazine staff to leave the premises and perhaps the most successful of the bunch what with all of those moom pitcher posters and TEE VEE GUIDE covers he did from the seventies on. Considering just how omnipresent the guy's art was during my growing up years this really is a grave loss and speaking of graves,
who can ignore all of those boffo and at times gut-churning EC horror comics he made his name with! Think I'll grab one of my A MAD LOOK AT OLD MOVIES paperbacks and honor him in a way that would be most fitting to a suburban slob ranch house kiddie such as myself. Alfred would understand.

***

Well, as you expected, here are this week's music raves. Hope you dig 'em even if the pickins are slim, but frankly there just ain't that much comin' out that really tingles me these days so I gotta get what I get 'n all that gettin'! If you wanna see a better batch of items up for review in these pages, why not send something of yours you'd like to get publicized or better yet pester your fave underground label to dig up some hefty archival platters that we can all enjoy because hey, rock as we knew it is deader'n Elvis and like, I sure could use more of the REAL stuff these pithy-like days! So without further whatever...

Equipe 84-ID CD (RPM England)

These wopadagos had it all from a cool name to a big rep in Italy as well as being name-checked in the Le Stelle Di Mario Schifano insert booklet, and that doesn't even count the story where Gerard Malanga was hanging out with them and wrote Lou Reed to ask if they could record "Heroin"! Turns out that all these guys really were wuz just a local market bunch who basically took the big overseas hits and guineafied 'em for the pastafazool crowd, usually losing a whole bunch of fun and energy in the translation! If these guys were "thee" drug band of the day you kinda get the idea that the only thing they were mainlining was tomato sauce! Limp neo-prog pop here with a whole lotta that classico schmaltz that permeated the pop scene in all of Europe, with little if any of the fun and jamz that I would have expected from a group such as this!

***

ELLERY QUEEN'S MINUTE MYSTERIES VOLUME ONE! I wrote up a batch of these a few weeks back and discovered this 'un on top of the pile f'r once! Yes, it's more of those quickie radio filler "can you match wits with..." shows that, according to Bill Shute's liner notes, actually ran in some markets well into the early eighties! Some of these are easier than your sister (like the one where somebody is selling a piano that arrived in Jamestown Colony in 1607 when we all know that the modern day version of the thang wasn't invented until a good century later) while others will twist the brain a bit given there's some strange obscuro reason for whatever happened and you never knew that certain roads lead in certain directions etc. and so forth. But whatever these radio whodunnits do in one minute what alla them tee-vee shows do in an hour, and I know you can put your time to better use listening to one of these 'stead of sitting through a whole buncha those, right?

***

DOCTOR MARIGOLD'S PRESCRIPTION CD-r burn (originally on Alshire) There must've been countless quickie English albums comin' out from the mid-to-late-sixties, and it wouldn't be that strange considering just how much big bux bonanzas that British Invasion music had over here that even the more obscure groups would get a release. Doctor Marigold's Prescription were but one of 'em, and although they didn't exactly get a big label gig at least this li'l spinner was picked up by the Alshire (formerly Somerset) label, best known for all of those 101 Strings albums your Aunt Flabby still has stocked in her console. It's not a bad record really, with the opening cover of "Sweet Cherry Wine" setting the tone for some rather pop-oriented sounds that once again seemed geared towards those gals in school who were going from Barbie to boobies within the wink of an eye. Not recommended for you hardcore BLOG TO COMM readers, but if you were a gal growin' up inna late-sixties with Ohio Express albums galore and a poster with a unicorn and rainbow in your room well...you might just wanna re-live those slumber party days of yore even if you can't find your vibrator!

***

THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM CD-r burn Given that one of the few tee-vee shows I tune into these days is THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM it's sure great listening to these old shows which continue to be funny well into the new millennium while more recent "comedy fare" flops about upon impact. Show number one's a gusset buster dealing with Jack and Mary's trip to a football game complete with appearances by not only Frank Nelson but Frank Fontaine doing a variation on his Crazy Guggenheim character later to be seen on Jackie Gleason's AMERICAN SCENE MAGAZINE. The second one has Jack torturing Don Wilson into signing his new contract as well as muscling in on a FORD THEATER RADIO program starring Claudette Colbert and Vincent Price! Har hars galore are to be found here, and if you can't find anything to chortle over in these programs may I call you Elizabeth Simpson?

***

The Champs-THE LATER SINGLES CD-r burn (originally on Ace Records, England) I never thought that the Champs were whatcha'd call a top notch kinda late-fifties instrumental group. Rilly, next to the likes of the Raymen and Rock-A-Teens they were kinda fiz. But then again since I sometimes find fiz to be a pretty good commodity in music (take the String-A-Longs f'rinstance) maybe I can enjoy the Champs even if the specter of Seals and Crofts continues to dwell in my mind all these years later.

Actually it's fairly good if at time slick and overproduced pre-moptop rock that can get on your nerves but by the time yer ready to bean the boom box with a can of refried beans the band plows into a pretty hotcha and driving number that keeps you buoyant enough to digest those late-fifties grooves a whole lot more. Features the kinda/sorta "hit" "Experiment in Terror" which later became the theme to the Chilly Billy horror moom pitcher show on Channel 11 in Pittsburgh.

***

Paul Bley-TURNS CD-r burn (originally on Savoy Jazz)

If you liked Bley's ESP albums from the same stratum you'll probably go stroonad over this side featuring Sun Ra sideman John Gilmore, Gary Peacock and Paul Motian. Typical of the mid-sixties new thing before it really went into orbit TURNS is par for the atonal course, though I gotta complain about yet another version of "Ida Lupino" showing up here as if there weren't any other songs that Bley coulda stuck on his albums. (Ditto for "Ictus" which somehow doesn't "get" to me that much.) Maybe he hadda re-re-record the thing for some strange occult reason everybody but I know about, and it really isn't that bad of a toe tapper once you get into Gilmore's sax extrapolations. Maybe he was being paid by the former Mrs. Hayward/Duff to keep her name in the spotlight even though she was directing GILLIGAN'S ISLAND episodes 'n all. Whatever, another good if oft-overlooked (by me) platter that might get a few more spins before being filed away until next time...

***

The B-G System-FUNNY LOVE AFFAIR CD-r burn (originally on Ex-Libris, Switzerland) You may think that alla that continental rock that was comin' outta the late-sixties was over-the-top freakarama fa fa fanabla, but a good portion of it was undoubtely middle of the road moosh that was aimed at the Europeon version of those girls you knew in eighth grade who liked to press leaves inside pages of old books. (Equipe 84 is living proof of that!) B-G System ain't exactly one of those kinda acts, but they sure do a good job of trying to be a teenybop act that can still put out some interesting rock moves. The retro thirties moves of "Je Baille" do come off like the Swiss counterpart of "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "Winchester Cathedral" without the orchestral pomp, but the rock bounce is still evident. Somewhat. And although most all of the numbers are good in their own overproduced pop ways there really isn't anything here that grabs you by the nerve endings and makes you wanna run down the street screaming at the top of your lungs. In the long run these guys shoulda stuck to making cheese and left the rockin' to the krauts.

***

Various Artists-MEAN STORMY SHOUT CD-r burn (Bill Shute)

Gotta admit that a really huge portion of the soul jazz that Bill snuck on this platter is doing rather little for me. Maybe I should pick these spinners out more carefully 'stead of whatever's onna toppa the pile, but right now it's like I could use my jazz a little more AACM-ish, ifyaknowaddamean.

Pretty standard mid-energy (at best) neo-funk (at best) sounds that very rarely stirred up any soul in me, and frankly I thought the whole thing as nothing but incidental music used for commercials on local late-sixties tee-vee, Only King Curtis covering "Honky Tonk" seems to break through the monotony but hey, even "James Brown's Boogaloo" falls short of the target (the target being full throttled total eruption music) and I for one feel like the last hour I spent listening to this music has taken one humongous chunk outta my life that could have been put to better use plucking chickens.